Annotation:Miss Oswald of Auchincruive

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MISS OSWALD OF AUCHINCRUIVE. Scottish, Slow Quickstep (March). A Minor. Standard tuning (fiddle). AAB. Composed by Nathaniel Gow (1763-1831). Auchincruive is an estate in the parish of St. Quivox, Ayrshire. During the Gows’ time it was held by Richard Oswald, a London merchant and negotiator with the Americans at the close of the War for Independence. His trading empire included a majority interest in a slaving factory on Bance Island in the mouth of the River Sierra Leone. Upon his death in 1784 it passed to his widow, then his son, Richard Alexander Oswald (1771-1841), who had been a government contractor during the same conflict. His wife, Lucy (Louisa) Oswald (d. 1797), whom he married in 1793, was a celebrated beauty. They had a son and daughter, the latter named Mary-Hester, who married in 1818. It is perhaps to her this tune is dedicated.

Source for notated version:

Printed sources: Carlin (The Gow Collection), 1986; No. 575. Gow (Fourth Collection of Niel Gow’s Reels), 2nd ed., originally 1800; p. 8.

Recorded sources: